In John Wexler's
front page Coin World story of January 22, 2001 he reported the discovery of a
2000 dated business strike Lincoln Cent struck with a proof style reverse die.
Shortly after his announcement the same variety was found on 1998 dated cents (See Randy
Camper's February 5th front page Coin World story).
Quite a bit later this variety was discovered on a 1999 dated cent! As noted by Wexler,
since 1993, the reverse dies for the Lincoln Cent have bore noticeable differences between
the dies used for general business strikes and those prepared for special proof
coinage. In fact, in our Coin World VIP tour of the Philadelphia Mint,
(that Wexler and I attended in 1998), a Mint spokesman noted that the dies
for proof cents were different from business strike dies, with special enhancements of the
proof dies implemented for cosmetic reasons.It was obvious
that the proof style dies were never intended to be used for business strike coinage.So far, finds of Ty-2 variety for both dates have proven to be very few and far
between with the 1998 appearing many times scarcer than the 2000.
A search of current
and completed eBay auctions (as of 5/01/01) seems to imply that the 1998 may be very
scarce to rare since a number of 2000 dated specimens have been offered while I can
find no offers of the 1998! 1999
specimens appear to be exceedingly rare!

Type 1 Regular Business Strike Reverse

Type 1: On this regular business strike variety (Ty-1) the
letters AM of AMERICA are close together and almost touching; the designer's initials, FG,
at the right side of the base of the Memorial Building are spaced well away from the
building.

Type 2 Proof Style Reverse

Type 2: On this business strike with
proof style reverse (Ty-2) the letters AM of AMERICA are spaced significantly further
apart than on the the Ty-1; the designer's initials, FG, are close to the base of the
Memorial Building. This issue is very scarce on both 1998 and 2000 dated cents.

Special ANACS Graded 1998 Ty-2
Pieces
We have a small batch of this variety (26 pcs) that I purchased as AU
that were picked from circulation by a number of different searchers
that supplied them to me over the past few years. I submitted all
at one time to ANACS and they came back with grades ranging from AU to
MS62.
Note: All that are
graded Mint State are noted as Red & Brown -- There are No Reds!
Because they are all AU or otherwise
Red & Brown, we will sell them at $27
ea or 4 for $99
until gone!

*Some of the 1998 pieces
offered here also exhibit the so-called "Phantom D" Mint Mark; slight traces of
the Denver Mint Mark that were left on the the 1998 Lincoln cent master hub, modified for
use as a Philadelphia hub. The so-called "Phantom D" variety was created
by the Mint by grinding the Denver Mint Mark off the master hub and then using it to
produce a master die for Philadelphia cent die production. Traces of the D remained
on the master hub and were transferred to the master die and then to working hubs and
further on to working dies. In general, the "Phantom D" wore off the
tooling in short order and thus only shows on coins produced from earlier stages of the
Philadelphia cent tooling. We make note of them here for those that are interested
in acquiring one with the Type 2 reverse.

Persons wanting to call to use a credit card by phone may do
so at either of the
numbers listed below:Home Office Phone: (313)255-8907 (preferred)
Cell Phone: (313) 268-3280 (best if nobody answers

How to order:Please
send an email to KPotter256@aol.com (or
call -- see below) indicating
which items are of interest and I will set them to the side for you and confirm their
availability via return email. You may also call to check on the availability of
items at the number listed below. You may also order without seeking confirmation of
availability but you run the risk of some items being sold out. In this case a full
refund will be issued for any sold out items. You may pay by check or money
order. I also accept VISA and MasterCard though PayPal. Click on the PayPal
logo above to get to PayPal. My email address (kpotter256@aol.com)
is my "account number" at PayPal.
PayPal is highly recommended, as it allows you to use a credit card without sharing
your credit card information over the Internet with many dealers or going through the
trouble of making many calls to assure the security of your credit card information.
Persons wanting to call to use a credit card may do so at either of the phone
numbers listed below. Postage/Handling/Insurance: Unless otherwise noted, please add $3.99 for postage/handling/insurance on all coin
and book orders, add $4.50
to all supply orders.$4.50
to all supply orders.$4.50
to all supply orders.$4.50
to all supply orders.$4.50
to all supply orders.All payments must be made in US funds. As they are shipped separately of one another, please calculate
coin, book and supply orders separately to arrive at your total postage
costs. We insure via Private-Courier Services™ (for lower valued
packages) or the United States Postal Service -- vendor of our choice. Foreign orders cost more to ship; please contact us for an
estimate of those costs before bidding. Terms of Sale:
Satisfaction guaranteed! 14 days return privileges for items in original
untampered holders -- no questions asked with 100% of the price charged refunded
less our actual cost to ship the item(s) or postal charges collected (whichever
is higher). Note that proof sets or other Mint products ordered
"Mint Sealed" or in otherwise unopened packaging are not returnable
for any reason. You always have the option of us opening such packaging
and inspecting the contents for you to assure quality before we ship. Such
items are returnable as per the above terms. To see a
detailed explanation of our policies on Tracking Service Options, Foreign
Orders, Terms of Sale, Methods of Shipment (including optional shipment services
available), Time of Shipments, Methods of Payment Accepted, Treatment of
Technical Information Supplied, How to Make an Inquiry, etc., check here: "Fine
Print."

Note:
The terms of sale on this page are the most up to date possible and supercede
any others that may be out-of-date on other pages

Notice to Mints and Their Agents: Please note
that we are always interested in purchasing unusual items that were not previously
released or widely distributed that are of low mintage such as: Presentation Pieces,
Trial Strikes, Set Up Coins, Salesman's Samples, Error Coins, Pattern Coins, Lead Trials,
Off Metals (deliberate or in error), Mules, Overruns, Plasters, Significant Art, Working
Dies and/or Master Tools. If you have anything unusual with a low mintage and wish
to clear your vaults it will pay you to contact us.

Unless otherwise stated, all Photographic Images
are by Ken Potter. Copyright Ken Potter, 1991-2006. Use of images in any
manner is strictly prohibited without the express written permission of the copyright
holder.